From Scales to Flames
by DarkFlameJ
Summary: What if a tired Erudite needed their coffee and accidentally spilled it on the tape from outside? What if Eric is just a misunderstood person, not quite as horrible as everyone thinks he is? What if Tris never comes to Dauntless? What if a Candor transfer takes her place? What chaos will she bring? What is she hiding? Answer: A whole lot of awesomeness is coming to Dauntless.
1. Chapter 1

(I don't own divergent or any of the original characters, just my character and some of the plot)

_What if…_

_What if Tris never comes to Dauntless?_

_What if a Candor transfer takes her place?_

_What if a tired Erudite needed their coffee and accidently spilled it on the tape from outside?_

_What if Eric is just a misunderstood person, not quite as horrible as everyone thinks he is?_

_Answer: A whole lot of awesomeness is coming to Dauntless._

The hot coals hissed as drops of blood fell upon them. The girl standing with her hand above the large, white bowl was on the tall side of average height. Her long, light brown hair was pulled into a low pony tail that ended at her lower back. She wore black jeans and a short sleeve white tee. Her head was held high as she strode towards the cheering dauntless.

oA few of them pat her on the back, while others said encouraging words, but she paid no attention to them. She didn't say anything, not even when the choosing ceremony was over and everyone in Dauntless bolted for the door.

She took off with them and followed closely behind the main runner. She swiftly scaled the metal beams and waited at the top for the trains. As it came within view, she bounced on the balls of her feet, shook hands once and started running as the other Dauntless members had.

The brunette observed as the slightly older boy grabbed the handle on the outside of the train and swung himself inside. There were two others before her, then it was her turn.

She easily mimicked their movements, and attempted to swing herself inside. She got one foot in, but the toe of her right shoe got caught in the bottom of the opening. This sent her stumbling forward, but she quickly corrected her center of balance.

She stood in the center of the car while the other people eyed her skeptically. She watched as the others, obviously already full members, jumped into the train car.

Once the platform ran out, she turned into the car and looked around. 'Where are the other transfers?' the previous Candor thought. With no emotion on her face, she walked over to the corner close to the door, on the backside of the train. She leaned her shoulders against the walls and crossed her arms in front of her.

Most of the others were talking amongst themselves, but a few were looking at the Candor transfer. One had a few eyebrow piercings and tattoos could be seen on his neck coming from under his shirt, he had short brown hair.

Another guy with dark skin and brown hair came up to her, extended his right hand and said, "Hey, you're the Candor transfer, right? I'm Zeke. Welcome to Dauntless." The brunette shook his hand hesitantly and nodded, not saying anything.

"I'm impressed that you're here," he said. She raised an eyebrow and thought, 'why shouldn't I be here?'

Zeke quickly amended what he said, "I mean here, not as in Dauntless, but as in, like, this car," she continued to passively look at him. "Most of the transfers are in the other cars; they never really come to the first one like you did."

Zeke was starting to get unnerved by the silent transfer, I mean what Candor is this quiet, aren't they supposed to speak impulsively? So he asked, "Do you have a name?"

She nodded. Zeke looked at her waiting for an answer, when she showed no attempt to supply him with her name he said, "If you don't tell me what it is then I'll have to make one up." She shrugged indifferently and turned her head to look out the door to her right. Zeke moved from standing in front of her to leaning against the wall on the left of the girl with his hands in his pockets.

"Oh! I got it!" he said, straightening up in excitement. 'Is there somethin' wrong with this dude's head?' the tranquil transfer thought as she shifted to look back at the one who claimed the name Zeke. "I'll call you Dread."

She raised an eyebrow, " Ya' know Dread, D-r-e-d-d, it kinda' fits you. I don't know how yet but it does," he grinned and opened his hands waiting for an answer.

This time, instead of remaining stoic, a closed lipped grin creeped across her lips and she nodded her head.

"Dredd, I like it," Zeke slipped sideways on the wall and fell over in shock. The klutz quickly got up and brushed himself off with a sweep of his arms down his front.

"Wow, so she does speak," he said, his eyes wide. Her shoulders shook a little in a silent laugh at his statement.

"Of course I speak, idiot" she said. Her voice was strong, not necessarily quiet, but also not overly loud. It was a confident, controlled voice.

"Well, it's just, you hadn't said anything since the choosing ceremony. So I was starting to think that…" he trailed off.

"Just 'cause I chose not to say anything doesn't mean I can't speak," she said simply.

"You could have at least told me your name," he grumbled.

"I don't want to tell you my name, or anyone else for that matter. I can have a new name here, so why keep the old one?"

"Good point, soooooo… what will your new name be?" he inquired. She smirked and said, "You'll have to wait and see."

Zeke groaned and raked his hands through his hair, "I just had to talk to the strangest transfer of the year. Why me?" he whined. She chuckled softly but immediately stopped when a voice asked, "You pestering the initiate Zeke?" it was the man with piercings and tattoos from before.

He was casually strolling over to their corner. Zeke grabbed his arm and looked up at him with big eyes, "Help me Eric, she won't tell me what her name is."

'So that's his name, Eric,' she thought remaining silent with no emotion on her face, just like when Zeke had first approached her. Eric wrestled his arm out of Zeke's grasp and said, somewhat annoyed, "You can worry about that later, we're coming up on the compound. Time to jump."

He looked over at the girl as she stepped away from the wall. He sized her up skeptically, wondering how she would hold up during initiation. She backed up against the wall opposite the opening in the other side of the train with the other Dauntless members.

"If you don't jump far enough you'll fall in the gap and plummet to your death. So jump far!" Zeke said cheerfully with a smile.

Once the train reached a certain building, the black clothed people launched themselves out of the train, hollering with joy. Without a second's hesitation, Dredd followed, jumping out of the train car. She landed on the gravel on top of the building. She landed on her feet but her momentum carried her forward and she fell over.

She quickly pushed herself up and grinned, thinking about what she'd just done. She hadn't hesitated, she wasn't nervous. She'd enjoyed the rush of adrenaline she had felt.

She had been born for this, she was meant to be part of Dauntless.

**(A/N: hope you liked my story! If you have any questions, comments, or criticisms please let me know in the comments or PM me. I don't even care what it is you say, it could be that you like spinach, I just want to know what you think. Thanks for reading and have a good day/night!)**


	2. Chapter 2

**(A/N: Sorry it has taken so long to update, I will try to do so more often.)**

Dredd got out of the way as the other members and transfers jumped out of the train. She watched as the transfers fell, just as she had, some harder than others. And she watched as the Dauntless members gracefully used their momentum to roll to their feet rather than face-plant.

They all gathered at one of the edges of the roof, there was a half wall about a meter high. Eric stood on the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. "Alright initiates, listen up. I'm Eric, one of the leaders of your new faction," he shouts.

Everyone quiets down and Dredd looks mildly surprised that he is a leader. "Behind me, a few stories down, is the member's entrance to the compound," as he continued the Candor transfer started to make her way, quietly, towards the front of the group.

"Initiates will be going first, to get in you have t-" "Could you move?" asked an arrogant voice from in front of Eric.

He looked down in surprise to see Dredd standing directly in front of him, but not on the wall.

Someone gasped. 'Did that girl seriously say that?' Eric thought. Zeke looked like he was trying to keep his jaw from hitting the floor, 'the quiet girl from the train just told Eric, the Eric, to move?! This chick must have a death wish!' Zeke thought.

Eric regained his composure and smirked down at her, "well someone's in a hurry" he said.

"I didn't come here to stand around and listen to speeches, I would have gone to Erudite if I did" she shot back. Eric raised a pierced eyebrow, but moved over a few steps on the wall so she had room to get up.

She did and looked at him; he nodded and extended his hand over the side of the building in a 'go ahead' gesture. Someone in the back muttered, humorously, " she's gonna die."

She paid no attention to this and turned with a crazed grin to the others on the roof. She saluted with two fingers and jumped backwards. When she jumped she not only did it backwards, but also, very much impulsively, she tucked her legs to her chest and fell doing, backspins the whole way. She thought, 'if I'm gonna die jumping might as well have fun, but today isn't my day to die anyway.'

Zeke sucked in a quick breath and chocked on his spit. Someone had to thump him on the back to keep him from a death by gagging.

Eric looked impressed (not with Zeke, the girl) and Dredd whooped with joy. She landed in a net at the bottom on her back. Once she had passed the opening in the roof of the compound, there had been many surprised holders and cheers.

Crawling towards the edge of the net, a smile plastered on her face, she grabbed the hand of a tall, tanned, guy with dark blue eyes. He helped to the ground as another, female, voice said, "that was pretty gutsy, smart mouth."

Dredd's smile immediately fell off her face, replaced with a look of no emotion. "Just ignore Lauren," the boy said, "but that was a brave thing to do. What's your name?"

Before she could respond, Lauren cut in "hurry up Four, more will be coming soon." He glared at her then turned back to the initiate, "J" she said

"The bird or the letter?" He asked.

"The letter."

He nodded then announced to everyone, "First jumper- J!" Then to her he said, "Welcome to Dauntless."

Everyone cheered and J smiled, likening the sound of her new name. 'There Zeke, that will be my new name,' she thought with a smile. The crazy roar of cheers coming from the rowdy Dauntless crowd was strangely relaxing.

A mass of black clothed people surrounded her, welcoming her into the faction. She stood with them waiting for the other initiates to come down.

By the time they all had jumped, most of the crowd had dispersed. The initiates grouped up again, standing in front of them was Four and Eric. Zeke was nowhere to be found. J shrugged inwardly, 'I'll see him later.'

"Ok, Dauntless-born with me" Lauren said and started walking off. "And transfers you stay here" Four said. There were no Amity or Abnegation transfers but a total of eleven transfers were from Erudite and Candor.

Mostly all of the transfers were talking among themselves as they walked behind Four and Eric. "Hey," a voice said from behind J, she looked over her shoulder to the person who had spoken.

"I remember seeing you at school, but you never said much of anything. I'm Christina" she said.

"J" she replied.

"Why don't you talk much?" Christina asked, J shrugged. "It's not because your shy because I saw you go right up to Eric and tell him to move. So what is it?" she pressed.

"If I have something to say, you'll hear it" J responded. She turned to face Christina and smiled.

Eric and Four stopped and turned, "Alright initiates" Four said, "Most of the time I'm working in the control room but for your initiation, I'll be your instructor along with Eric" Eric nodded "I'm Four."

"Four? Like the number?" Christina asked.

"Yes, you got a problem with that?"

"No"

Four continued with what he had been saying, "we're headed towards the Pitt, which-"

Christina snickered, J shot her a look in attempt to get her to shut up, but it was too late. Four walked up to her and asked, "What's your name?"

"Christina" she responded softly.

"Well then, Christina, do you think I joined Dauntless to listen to Candor smart-mouths?" She shook her head.

"The first lesson you need to learn is how to hold your tongue. Maybe you could learn from your friend here" he nodded at the silent J. Christina nodded.

He continued walking down the tunnel and the initiates followed. "Jerk" Christina muttered only loud enough so J could hear. She chuckled and whispered back, "it is a good idea, though" Christina scoured at her.

They walked out of the dark tunnel into a massive open space, the Pitt.

"Oh, so that's why it's called the Pitt" Christina said softly.

**(A/N: And that is ch.2! I hope you guys liked it. Tell me what you think, any ideas you might want me to write, or something you don't like. Have a great day/ night!**

**-DarkFlameJ)**


	3. Chapter 3

**(A/N: Sorry it has been a long time since I have updated. But I have finally done it! Please comment or message me if you want, I would appreciate it! I hope you enjoy this chapter where you will see more of J's personality!****)**

J half listened as Four and Eric explained the stages of initiation. She stood there, unaffected; while the others were concerned at the mention of cuts at the end of stage one. For her there was only one acceptable rank and that was first.

They were given new clothes and led to the dorm room, which was one large room with bunks and bathrooms at the back.

She took the closest bunk to the door, on the bottom and started to change into her new black clothes. J had a skinny frame, but still had some curves; she heard cat calls and wolf whistles from some of the other (male) transfers. Especially Peter, but she ignored them as she slipped on her tight, black pants, which had the boxy panels horizontal on her thighs; the panels were the same color and material as the rest of the pants. Her new shirt was a tank top that had wide shoulders. The top had the same panels on the shoulders perpendicular with her collarbone. There were also panels on her sides, on the lower part of her ribs, so they seemed like protection for her sides.

Eric had said to go to the dining hall after they were done training. J saw that Christina had already left, so she strode out of the dorms to the cafeteria. After going through the winding underground halls, J finally arrived at the dining hall. She spotted Christina and walked over to sit by her.

Without looking up, Christina started to say, "Sorry, but I'm saving that seat fo-" she stopped when she realized it was J. "Oh, I was saving it for you, I didn't realize you had gotten here so fast."

J smiled, and Christina returned it, before starting to eat again. J grabbed a hamburger and started eating. Looking around she saw Christina and the other initiates I front of her and to the right. But next to her on the left was Eric and on his left was Four. They were talking together about random things. She was just about to take another bite of her hamburger, when a hand landed on each of her shoulders.

"Decisions, decisions" the voice spoke, "which one to pick?" J looked behind her but before she could say anything, Four spoke up, "Come on Zeke, they just got here. Go bother your brother before them."

Zeke looked at him, slightly confused, then he figured it out and said, "I wasn't bothering the transfers, just my new friend here," then to her he said, "which name do I call you the one I gave you or the one you gave to everyone?" J smiled and said, "I like the one you gave me, so you can call me that, but only you, ok?" A goofy smile spread across Zeke's face and he took his hands off of her shoulders and started to squeeze himself onto the bench between J and Eric.

"Whatever you want, Dredd." She smiled.

Eric raised an eyebrow, remaining silent, but Four, however, leaned forward and said, "What the heck is wrong with you Zeke?! You can't just go around giving the initiates depressing names, that's just strange" he sounded concerned.

J and Zeke looked at each other and started laughing. Four and Eric sat there, confused to no end. "Don't worry Four, we worked it out on the train ride to the compound," J said. Zeke elbowed her in the ribs saying, "more like I figured it out. You were very unhelpful!" She elbowed back and they started play wrestling in their seats. Zeke was pushed back into Eric as he was taking a drink from his cup. He was nocked sideways and water spilled onto the chocolate cake that sat on his tray.

He'd had enough of their fool play. "Would you two just knock it off already?!" He said loudly. Some people around the dining hall started to watch the spectacle. J laughed "oh, is someone feeling deprived?" And with that she literally walked over Zeke's lap, pushing his head out of the way as he swatted at her face.

Then she jumped on the stunned Eric, knocking him backwards onto the ground. They landed with a thud. She started to wrestle with him like she had with Zeke but stopped when he didn't play back. She looked up and saw that everyone in the room was looking at her. She was on Eric's stomach as he lay on his back on the floor. She looked down at him.

His jaw was clenched in anger, he stayed silent. Her toothy smile began to fall off her face as she looked to Zeke who had a terrified expression on his face, 'Did she just tackle Eric? Does she not get that he is a leader and can control her ranking? Or does she just not care?' Zeke thought.

Then she looked at Four, who was covering his smirk with his hand and shaking, trying to suppress a laugh. 'I like her already, she tackled Eric! Ha! But where did she learn to do that, was it just instincts? I know she wouldn't have been taught that sort of stuff in Candor.' Four thought.

"Get off" Eric ordered through gritted teeth, J quietly stood up. Then she offered him a hand which he glared at as he stood up. He brushed himself off once with a sweep of his hands down his front, then shouted "Transfers. Lunch is over. Follow me." They started to get up and J flashed Zeke a look. He mouthed "good luck." She smiled and gave a thumbs up causing Zeke to think 'This girl has no idea what she has gotten herself into.

They ended up in a large room, on one side there were wooden targets with blue human outlines. There is a table with knives back from the boards. "Alright Candor, in front of the targets" Eric said to J. She just stood in the group not making any motion to obey his order.

"Today, initiate" he said getting annoyed. She still didn't move. Everyone was slowly backing away from J as Eric started to slowly walk towards her. Four looked on passively.

Eric stopped a few inches in front of J. He was taller than her, so her chin was at his collarbone. "Did you not hear me, initiate?" He growled quietly. She looked at him, not seeming intimidated at all, "I heard you, sir" she stressed the last word, "but your statement doesn't apply to me" she looked him straight in the eye.

Everyone's jaws hit the floor, including Four's. Eric was getting angry, but he didn't show it on his face or in his voice, "and why is that, Candor?" She looked at him blankly.

"INITIATE!" He shouted in her face, she didn't even flinch.

"Pretty much just like that. You're calling me Candor, but that's not what I am anymore. I left Candor, I'll do what you want, but only if you saw it addressing me as something I am, or my name. 'Cause I do have one."

Eric's fists were clenched together in anger. Four saw this and thought, 'Wow, he hasn't hit her yet, that's strange. Usually he would have beat the snot out of anyone who even spoke to him that way, much less tackled him. But he's just standing there as she sasses him like that. What is it about that girl that makes him act like that? Why is she so different? Whatever it is this is definitely going to be an interesting initiation.'

"Alright, initiate, I front of the target" Eric hissed through gritted teeth.  
J slowly strolled towards the targets, her head held high and her back straight. She carried herself with an arrogant posture of confidence.

She reached the target, leaned against it, put her hands in her pockets, and crossed her left foot over the right. The brunette looked completely relaxed.

"Four" Eric said. The other male walked over to the table with the knifes and grabbed a hand full with his left hand. As he walked towards the line a few yards in front of the targets, he spun one of the blades in his right hand.

Eric stood with his arms crossed over his chest and said, "your gonna stand there while he throws at you, and if you flinch your out. Got it?" Four pulled back his arm, ready to throw, but J raised one of her hands, her first two fingers raised up, calling attention to herself, Four stopped.

"What now, initiate?" Eric practically whined.

"Well, I was just wondering why Four is throwing the knives at me. He isn't the one who is mad at me for no reason." She said looking at Eric.

When Eric wasn't looking at Four, he tried to get her attention to get her to stop talking. 'No! No! No! If you keep talking, then he is going to throw at you! Eric plus being mad plus knives equals bad! VERY BAD!' Four shouted in his mind. J either didn't see or didn't acknowledge Four's silent warning to stop.

"Four," Eric said and held out his hand for the knives. Four hesitantly handed him the blades

"Happy now, initiate?" Eric asked with a smirk, "Yes" she responded with a matching smile. He turned to the other initiates, "Pay attention this will be our first training exercise, right after we're done here."

Then, turning back to J, he raised his right hand and prepared to throw.

_Thud, _the knife hit at her eye level on the right side of her head about six inches from her face. A crazed grin parted her lips, but she didn't flinch. Although, she did straighten up and put her hands by her side.

_Thud, _the next blade hit half an inch to the left of her ear. J could feel the air move and the board tremble with the force of the impact. Her smile began to fade as she thought, 'Woah, he's serious.' Quickly looking around the room, she saw Four standing with his arms crossed and the majority of the initiates looking very worried.

_Thud, _the next one hit the board next to her left shoulder, slicing her skin slightly, but not even enough to make it bleed. Eric smiled at the face she made after his throw, 'There, just one more and she will have learned her lesson. Just close enough to scare her.'

He lifted his arm to throw the last knife. The knife shot forward as he releases it. In a flash, Eric realized that he had misaimed, and the knife was shooting towards J's forehead. He cursed in his head and shouted "DUCK!" He leapt forward instinctively, even though he knew there was nothing he could do.


	4. Chapter 4

J's eyes widened as the knife hurtled at her face. She moved her head to the right as her hand shot to the place where her head just was. Then, she did something that shocked everyone.

She.

Caught.

The.

Knife.

She was frozen, holding the knife in her right hand, just inches off the board. A trickle of blood ran down her hand, dripping onto the floor. J had caught the blade of the knife and it had sliced her palm and fingers.

'What did I do?' Eric thought.

"Alright initiates, everyone out. We will begin training in an hour." He shouted, then lowered his voice, so only J could hear," You stay here"

J nodded, she was standing, holding her hand, with the knife still clutched in it. She looked fine, except for the spec of shock in her eyes. Eric watched as Four hesitantly closed the door behind himself. With everyone out of the room, Eric's face turned from one of no emotion to one filled with concern.

"I didn't mean to do that, J, honestly. I swea-"

"It's ok" she interrupted.

He looked at her like she had two heads, 'I almost killed her and all she says is _it's ok' _he thought. Eric gently held out his hand, "let me take a look at that."

She hesitantly held out her injured hand to him. Eric gently peeled back her fingers, and took the embedded knife out of her palm.

"Sorry" he whispered.

'I can't believe I was stupid enough to do that' he mentally hit himself. He led her over to one of the walls of the area, which had a sink. Along the way he grabbed three things; gauze, a roll of medical tape, and a bottle of alcohol. He gently held her hand over the sink and looked into her eyes, "this is gonna sting" he said.

He gently held her hand over the sink and poured the alcohol onto the cuts on her fingers and palm. When he didn't hear anything, he looked up at her. She didn't seem to be any pain; her jaw was just clenched a bit tighter. He continued to support her hand over the sink while the drink was cleaning her wound.

"J?" he asked.

She looked up from her hand to his face and smiled, "hey, you used my name."

His hard expression softened a bit then hardened again, "yeah, I- I just wanted to apologize. I shouldn't have reacted like that earlier, I-"

"It's alright," she cut him off "I get why you did it," he raised an eyebrow.

"Yea, I know it's my fault for tackling you, and I shouldn't have mouthed off in front of everyone, you had to punish me somehow. You're a leader, and you can't let initiates do something they're not supposed to and get away with it. I wasn't thinking in the cafeteria and got carried away. You were just doing your job," she said it like it was one of the simplest things in the world.  
'So she isn't angry at me for almost killing her?' Eric thought surprised.

"But I could have killed you just now," he reasoned while he gently dried off her hand with a paper towel.

She shrugged nonchalantly, "I'm not afraid to die."

Eric looked up at her, surprised by her comment; this initiate was full of surprises. He put gauze over her cut and started to wrap it.

"So where did you learn moves like that?"

"Like what?" J asked confused as to what he was referring to.

"Like when you tackled me in the cafeteria and just then when you caught the knife. You had to learn somewhere," Eric stated.

"Um," she looked down, "not really, I wasn't thinking, I just kinda' did it, like a reflex or instinct."

Eric skeptically, "There is no way you caught a knife from instinct alone. Who taught you, someone in Candor?"

"No, no one taught me" she said flatly.

Eric looked like he was getting annoyed, but his voice stayed level, "seriously, who was it?"

The initiate was getting angry that he didn't believe her, "I told you, no one taught me, they hardly took time to look at me, much less teach me anything important" she cut herself off even though it sounded like she was going to continue.

Eric looked taken aback, "what do you mean?" He asked, all of his annoyance was gone.

She looked down again, "well," she spoke softly, nothing like the confident tone she had used before, "almost everyone in Candor ignored me. They didn't get along with me 'cause I never did anything the *air quotes* Candor way. I was quiet, didn't tell what I was thinking, and I lied. The parents made their kids stay away from me, but that was ok, I liked to be alone. There were only two people who ever took an interest in me, and they are either gone or have changed. I knew I wasn't going to be staying there anyway. Today, I couldn't wait till they called my name, so I could get out of that smart-mouth faction."

Eric looked skeptical, but stayed silent thinking, 'well she won't be ignored here, that's for sure, especially if she keeps acting up like this.'

He had finished wrapping her hand a while ago, "thanks" she said.  
He nodded and then, realizing that he was still holding her hand, he quickly released it. When his back was turned, a small smile crossed her face at his reaction.

**(A/N: Hey-o! I hope you guys liked the cliffhanger from last chapter and this one here. ****OK****, so just to let you guys know I write my stories in notebooks and then type it from that. Also, I am an extremely slow typer. This is why it takes me a while to get in new chapters and also because I don't think about it sometimes. I hope you all enjoy my writing and will take a little extra time to review. If you want to read anything in particular for this story, please let me know I would love to use your ideas if you have some. Have a great day/night! ****J**

**-DarkFlameJ)**


	5. Chapter 5

Four walked back in to see J sitting on the counter by the sink. She was eating an apple while watching Eric. He was throwing knives at the target.

'Well at least no one is in front of it this time' Four thought. He walked over to where J was sitting. "How you doing?" he asked quietly, so Eric couldn't hear.

She finished chewing, "Yea, I'm fine, Eric wrapped my hand" she said showing him the hand that wasn't holding the apple.

He looked at it uncertainly but didn't get the chance to say anything. At that moment, the other initiates started to walk in and awkwardly stood in the middle of the room. Eric turned after he had thrown his last knife at the target.

"Alright initiates your first lesson is knife throwing. You already saw how it's done so let's go. Get started."

They all grabbed a few knives from the table, lined up and started throwing. Almost all of them missed the first time, and most of the time after that. All except one initiate.

_Thud_, the knife stuck in the center of the forehead of the target.

_Thud_, center of the chest.

_Thud_, throat shot.

_Thud_, right were the mouth of a real person would be.

_Thud_, the targets left eye.

_Thud_, the targets right eye.

The initiates all stopped to look at the initiate who kept throwing kill shots, and hadn't missed yet.

"Did anyone tell you stop throwing?" Eric shouted.

Four who was standing next to him, tapped him with the back of his arm

"What" Eric said "Look" Four gestured to where J was still throwing.

Eric looked astounded, but quickly regained his composure, no initiate ever has that good of aim, "keep practicing" he shouted to the initiates who had stopped.

They hesitantly did as they were ordered, Four walked over to where J was, at the target on the end. Just as she was about to throw, he placed his hand lightly between her shoulder blades. She wasn't expecting the contact and didn't release the knife at the right time. It bounced off of the target and clattered to the floor.

She whipped around to face the guy who had touched her. His hand had move from her back to her shoulder. "What the heck man? You made me mess up!" she almost shouted at Four.

He chuckled "I don't think you really need to worry about that. But I do want to know, how are you doing that?" he gestured to the target. She shrugged and turned back to the target so his hand fell off of her shoulders, he put both of his pockets.

"I don't know" she said "I just watch and do what I see."

She threw again and it stuck in the center of the forehead, so close it was touching the knife that was already there.

"There is no way you can do that, as well as you do, by just watching" Four said, no believing her.

He spoke quietly so no else, except J, could hear. "Did Eric teach you while you two were in here alone?"

J lowered the knife that she was about to throw, she looked Four in the eyes and said "No, the only thing he did was wrap my hand and throw knives. I just watched, but on the other hand that was pretty good training. Just watching the form was is what taught me, he hardly even said anything to me." Four nodded, but J wasn't done, "I don't like what your implying, Four. You think I'm a cheat? Is that it? "She was pretty much glaring at him now.

He shook his head, "no I was just wondering."

J watched him walked away for a second before going back to throwing knifes.

After a little while, Christina turned to her right to face J. "If you keep that up, we'll have to call you Blade" she said with a smile. J returned her smile and said "Blade, that's a pretty cool nickname!"

Then, as if to emphasize the appropriateness of it, she threw a knife so hard that it shook the target board when it stuck mid-chest of the target. J smiled at Christina who quietly laughed to herself.

Across the room Four stood next to Eric, "Did you hear that" Four asked him.

"What?" "J just got a new nickname from Christina"

"What is it?"

"Blade"

Eric made a noise that was somewhere between a snort and a laugh "Well, I wonder where she got that idea from? "

Then they both looked at the target in front of said girl. It looked like a porcupine.

**(A/N: hello people, thanks for reading this! It's summer for me now, so I might be updating more frequently then I have been. Please leave a comment and that would motivate me even more to update. Please tell me if you have something in mind that you want me to write. Have a spectacular day/night! ****J****)**


	6. Chapter 6

**(A/N: I just wanted to thank ****Doctor Smith, Annie0801, and the guests who reviewed my story! Hope everyone likes this chapter, tell me what you think. ****J****)**

A few hours and a lot of knives later, Four announced that they were done for the day and the initiates had the rest of the day to themselves, but there would be a wake up call at 0700 the next morning. J and Christina walked back to the dorms talking about random things like initiation and how good the others were. They took quick showers and changed out of their training clothes. J changed into her wide shouldered tank top and black pants.

Christina had the bunk above J, and she hung off the side, upside down, to look at J who was laying on her back staring at the bottom of the mattress above her.

"Hey, Blade, do you want to go get some tattoos? Will, Al, and I are going, sort of a way to really get away from our old faction."

J smiled, "sure!"

They both walked to the tattoo shop and saw that Will and Al were waiting for them, "Hey guys!" J shouted as she waved at them excitedly.

They walked around for a while looking at the designs. While Christina was getting one on her arm, J thought about what she wanted. Once Christina was done, she still hasn't thought of anything.

"Why don't we leave Will and Al and go get some dinner?" Christina asked, "You might think of something while we're out."

"Sounds good," J replied.

J and Christina were walking to the table they had sat earlier, carrying trays piled with food and cake, but mostly cake. Then they heard a voice call, "Blade!"

They turned a saw a boy with a dark completion waving at J. She saw Zeke sitting next to the boy, and steered Christina over to their table.

"Hey guys!" Zeke greeted, "this is my brother; Uriah," the boy who had called them over waved and Zeke continued, "so I heard some interesting stuff happened your first day of training, huh?"

"I guess," J responded in monotone.

Christina coughed and then started to excitedly talk about the day at warp speed, "so you remember at lunch when she tackled Eric? Oh man he was so mad! Then we all went to the training room and he told her to stand in front of one of the boards. Then she full on sassed him 'cause he called her Candor... He threw knives at her and one went straight at her forehead! She did the most amazing thing ever, she caught the knife! Can you believe that!?" Christina was talking high speed and showed no signs of stopping anytime soon.

So, as soon as J was done eating she got up and looked around the dining hall. She spotted Four and Eric sitting next to each other at a table close by, talking. She walked up and there conversation came to a halt as she approached.

"Can I sit here?" She asked and Eric raised a pierced eyebrow but stayed silent.

"Sure" Four said skeptically before asking, "Did your friends get too loud for you?"

"Yeah, a bit, I just wasn't too keen on listening to a retelling of today's events" she replied as she sat to Four's left since Eric was on his other side, "I got a question for you two."

"Yea?" Eric prompted her to ask it.

"Where should I get a tattoo?"

Four and Eric looked at each other, both thinking the same thing; 'what the heck? Why is she asking us?'

Eric was the first to speak, "What is it going to be of?"

J shrugged, "I don't know yet."

The two instructors thought for a minute, then Four spoke up, "On your arm, here" he pointed to his bicep.

"ok" J turned to Eric, waiting for his answer.

Eric scanned her with his eyes and thought for a minute. "Either your side or your back," he finally answered.

J thought for a moment, then said, "Thanks guys."

"Uhhhh… Sure," Four said hesitantly. J started to leave, but Eric quickly caught her wrist, she halted and looked at him.

"You do realize that tattoos hurt right?" he asked.

"I'm counting on it" she responded slipping her wrist from his grasp and walking away, leaving a confused Four and concerned Eric in her wake.

**(A/N: Helololo! I would love to know what you think of this chapter and also what you think her tattoo is going to be. Please leave a comment! Thanks for reading! Oh and just to let anyone who has read both of my stories know; they are connected and you will see how later. Have a great day and good luck with all of your endeavors!**

**-DarkFlameJ)**


	7. Chapter 7

**(A/N: Thanks to ****Ryan-Alekzandra****and ****Electric Blue Reader**** for reviewing and thanks everyone for sticking with me in between long pauses in updates. If you haven't read my other story you should, that one and this one are linked because I'm an evil writer. Enjoy! Comment?)**

J walked back to the tattoo shop and found one of the people who worked there. It was a woman with long black hair; Tori.

"Hey! I remember you from my aptitude test," J said.

"You were that strangely quiet Candor, right? What's your name again?"

"It's J now"

"I'm surprised you chose Dauntless" Tori said.

J shrugged, "can I get a tattoo?"

"Of course which one?"

"Actually I had an idea, would you be able to do that?"

"Sure, I can sketch it out and then do it..."

J described the intricate designs to Tori and the Dauntless woman did a sketch on a piece of paper. They sat in the back room with the door locked. After seeing it, J took off her shirt and sat backwards on the black chair. Tori took a special market and drew the designs on her back, shoulders, ribs and stomach.  
Once she was finished, J looked at the design in a full length mirror, "perfect," she whispered.

Tori smiled, "ok now the painful part, do you want to do it in segments, you can come back tomorrow or do you want to do it all now?"

"Do it all now"

Tori nodded and pulled out her chair and tattoo needle. She started with the design on her stomach and eventually she was done with the ink on the girl's ribs and stomach. J straddled the chair and rested her chin on the top of the seat. As Tori set to work with the intricate designs J clenched her fists and stayed as still as humanly possible.

~an hour later~

Tori finished with the design on her back and J put back on her tank top. Tori did the designs on her shoulders and arms. As she was starting the design on her right shoulder there was a soft knock on the door.

She continued working and said, "it's open."

A man, another tattoo artist, opened the door and said, "there on the wall again if you wanted to watch or whatever."

Tori nodded, "I'm almost done, but you should probably make sure they don't kill each other."

"What is he talking about?" J asked as Tori started to work again.

She let out a short laugh, "there is a group of friends who hang out outside of the shop in the Pitt. Mostly they just fight for fun but they sometimes take it too far."

"Who are they?"

"Four, Zeke, Eric and some of their buddies."

J was silent; she wanted to go watch for some reason. she didn't have to wait long because soon after Tori said, "There you go, all done. Just try to not touch it, and don't take a shower until at least tomorrow or the ink will wash out."

She nodded and paid with her points then left the shop. Walking out she spotted a group of guys sitting on the wall, all of them holding a beer. J saw Zeke elbow Eric, who then stood and faced the other way, handing his beer to Four.

He held the bottle out a bit to the side in front of Eric. He counted down and on one two things happened;

1) Four dropped the bottle

2) Eric flipped backwards and flipped down the wall.

He was so fast J sucked in a breath in shock. Eric landed on his feet and quickly dropped down to snag the bottle. He caught it a few inches off the ground. He took a drink from it and all of his friends still on the wall started yelling and cheering.

J walked up and started clapping. Eric turned to face her and mock bowed. When he straightened up and tried to take a step he wobbled sideways before correcting his balance. Eric was most definitely drunk. She laughed and he looked at her. His speech was slurred but she could tell he had asked her something along the lines of, "Did you just get those tattoos?"

She wasn't able to respond because Four walked up and slapped his hands down on Eric's shoulders saying, "Dude! That was sick! Come on."

J smirked; she wouldn't have though Four would be one to get drunk. He was so hammered; he made the stumbling Eric look sober. She was surprised that he had gotten down from the wall without killing himself.

"Can't you see I'm talking to a pretty young lady," Eric said without thinking about it.

J looked at him in shock and watched Four look around, his eyes finally landing on her. When he spotted her he frowned, "her?" he asked like he was offended.

"Why waste your time man? She's weak, she won't pass the first stage and even if she does she won't last through the sims. She's so short and ugly, she'll just be factionless in a few weeks," he obviously had no idea what I was saying.

J was boiling with anger at his words and she didn't even care if he didn't know what he was saying. "Hey!" she shouted, "You could at least insult me to my face and not pretend that I'm not here!"

"What makes you think you can talk to me, kid?" he asked with a grin.

Something inside J snapped and a red haze fell over her vision. She sprang forward and punched him in the stomach. He crunched over a fraction, then straightened up and took a step towards J. Before he could retaliate Tori ran out of her shop and stood in between the seething initiate and intoxicated instructor. She faced Four, but spoke to J "you better get out of here."

J's vision cleared and she looked around, realizing what she had done. She nodded and turned. After saying a quick thank you she walked back down the hallways towards the dorms. J hoped she wouldn't be in trouble tomorrow for her outburst. Many thoughts spun through her head as she walked into the dorm. Luckily, all of the initiates were asleep, so she wouldn't have to answer any questions about why she had been out so late.

She grabbed some clothes from under her bed and went into the bathroom to change. She locked the door and admired her tattoos;

On her left shoulder blade started a chain in black ink, it went up over her shoulder, then down, wrapping around. It ended halfway down her upper arm with a broken link. on the right side of her back was a tribal dragon design. The head faced her right shoulder, far enough in to be covered by her shirt. The wing started at the base of her neck and curved down, it crossed to her front at the bottom of her ribs. Under that a few inches the tail also came to her front. The wing ended at the center of her ribs, but the tail was longer and swirled over her belly button and pointed underneath it. The dragon was spewing brilliant flames that wrapped around her arm, ending at her elbow. The dragon took up most of the right side of her back. Below it on the left side of her back was a small, delicate, white feather. It was very pretty, except for that it was on fire, the top was blackened and red fire burned it. When she moved, the white feather shimmered. On the shaft was a name in small cursive letters.

J got dressed the rest of the way and lay in her bed. As she drifted off to sleep she thought, 'If that was just the first day, I can't even imagine what could happen in a week.


	8. Chapter 8

**(A/N: Hello again! ****MoMaster****, thank you so much for your reviews, they mean so much to me, I sent you replies with the PM thing. Also, thank you to everyone who has followed and/or favorited. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter, please tell me what you think!)**

J's eyes opened and she got up as easily as can be. She was definitely a morning person and had no trouble getting up. Although since it was dark in the room, she almost hit her head on the bottom of Christina's bunk. She quickly dressed and started to leave the dorms, only then did she realize that all of the other initiates were still asleep. 'I wonder if someone comes and wakes us up or something?' she wondered.

Her question was soon answered when she walked through the door into the hall way and came face to face with Four. He jerked to a stop and she jumped to the side, startled. Obviously neither of them had been expecting to see the other.

J quickly regained her composure and asked in a defensive tone, "what are you doing here?"

"I came to wake up the initiates for training today, why are you up?"

"I just woke up. Do we have time for breakfast?"

"Yeah"

She started walking back down the hallway towards the mess hall when Four spoke again, "hey, I just want to say sorry for last night"

She turned and looked at him, "don't worry about it that was my fault."

They both started walking again and she breathed a silent sigh of relief, she wasn't going to be in trouble after all. J heard the sound of metal hitting metal and Four shouting at the initiates to wake up.

~At the Cafeteria~

She walked through the open doors to the cafeteria quietly. There were only a few people there; a group of members talking quietly at a corner table and at the table where they had eaten lunch at yesterday was a man, probably sleeping.

She got some eggs, a piece of toast and some bacon from the line of food on one wall. Then, she made her way over to her spot which was right next to the sleeping man. She sat and started eating, looking to her left she saw his face, it was Eric. J wanted to talk to someone so she poked his arm. He made a noise and swatted at her hand, not waking up.

She got an evil idea; J got up and grabbed a glass of ice water. Apparently she wasn't even thinking about the events of the previous day. She was about to dump the freezing water on his head when Eric spoke, his voice rough with sleep, "If you pour that on me you will be in last place and I will make sure your rank stays that way."

Her eyes widened and she quickly took a drink from the cup, acting innocent she asked, "why do you think I would do that?"

He sat up and looked at her as if to say; you know exactly why. Eric got up and grabbed a tray of food, then came back and sat down. He glanced over at her and said, "Nice tattoos."

She beamed at him, "Thanks!"

"Are those the only ones you have?"

"No."

"Where are the others?" he asked.

"Covered, but maybe you can see them one day" she said mischievously.

Eric, with his good imagination, got a strange look on his face and wouldn't look at her. 'DID THAT SERIOUSLY JUST HAPPEN?!' he screamed in his head.

He was saved from his thoughts by Christina sitting down next to J, who turned and started talking to her friend. Four sat on his other side and looked at Eric who was staring, still shocked, at his food. He nudged Eric's shoulder, "you alright?"

Eric just looked up at him blankly; man he wished his imagination hadn't just showed him that image.

"Woah, what happened? I haven't seen that look since you swallowed that bullet during initiation." Eric chuckled remembering the strange memory;

_His group of friends had convinced him to balance a bullet on his nose. Why? Because that's what they did in their spare time. So he did it and there instructor, Amar, came up behind him and thumped his back. The bullet had fallen into his mouth and he had gasped, swallowing it. He just froze with the look of utter shock on his face._

Eric just shook his head, dismissing the memory and unreasonable thoughts, "you don't want to know."

After a run through the city the initiates gathered around the sparring mats, watching as Four taught them fighting techniques. He demonstrated different punches, kicks and blocks. When he was done, he instructed the initiates to practice with either a punching bag or a partner, but they weren't to actually fight.

J was practicing alone when a tall, dark brown haired initiate came up to her and said, "hey, it looks like neither of us have a partner, so do you want to practice with me?"

She paused and thought for a second, sizing up the taller girl, then she extended her hand in the Dauntless greeting, "Sure, I'm J."

She took it and said, "Zoe."

They walked over to the practice mats and slowly spared with the moves Four had taught them, so they wouldn't hurt each other. The two immediately bonded while talking during the morning and through lunch.

**(A/N: Ok sorry that was short, but the next one will definitely be longer. Guess what will be happening next chapter… Yup! The fights! Who do you think J will be up against, who do you think will win? I'll try to update soon! Hope you have a fantastic day/night!**

**-DarkFlameJ)**


	9. Chapter 9

**(A/N: Hope you guys are ready for an awesome fight! Because I like this chapter. You know what I want after you are done reading *cough*reviews*cough* so I'm not even going to ask ;) Also if anyone has an idea for this story or another one, please let me know!)**

Zoe and J walked back into the training room after lunch. She was showing J the tattoo on her left wrist. It was a thin vine that wrapped all the way around and had a small leaf on the back of her hand. The tattoo was a light muted green and the veins of the leaf were shimmering silver.

All of the initiates gathered around the mats and listened as Eric explained what was going on. "You will be having fights starting now. One on one; the winner is decided when one is unconscious or unable to continue."

"Or one of you concedes" Four cut in.

"According to the old rules. New rules, no one concedes," Eric said with a look that practically dared Four to disagree, he didn't.

"The amount of fights you win and lose affects your ranking, so fight hard. First and second jumper, you're up first," Eric stated.

J walked up confidently and sized up her opponent. He was taller than her, and even though they had only been there for a day, he had a lot of muscle. Her opponent was Edward. Oh. Joy. J looked calm, but Four looked at Eric as if he was insane. The skinny Candor transfer didn't stand a chance against the taller heavier bay.

They stood on the mat and looked at each other. "Go," Eric said impatiently. Instantly, J sprung forward, aiming a fist at his face.

Not quite expecting that quick of an attack, Edward didn't even get a chance to dodge. Her fist landed square on his nose with a crack. He stumbled back, blood dripping from his nose, but he quickly launched himself at the girl. He aimed a kick at her side; she ducked under it trying to get behind him. He grabbed her by the pony tail, yanking her into the air.

A strangled noise, like a cat, escaped her lips. He held her with his left hand and started to mercilessly punch her side. He definitely broke a few ribs. J didn't cry out. She grabbed his arm and lifted herself up.

J wrapped her legs around his arm and spun herself; there was a sickening popping noise and a shout of pain. He dropped her to the ground where she landed with a thud, right on the side he had just attacked.

She sprung to her feet and looked at Edward. His left arm hung limply at his side and blood stained the skin from his nose down to his chin. J looked a bit better; she had blood dripping down into her eyes from the split in her skin by her hair line.

Neither looked ready to stop, they were out for more blood. They both lunged forward again; J punched him in the gut, then spun and aimed a kick at his head. He caught her leg and pulled it forward causing her to lose balance.

She was still trying to regain her footing when a heavy blow landed on the side of her head. She fell to the ground again and everyone thought she was out. Eric was about to announce the winner when she swept her legs in a wide arch. Edward, who also thought she was knocked out, felt his feet be ripped from under him.

He fell to the ground, landing on his injured arm, and a pained look clouded his eyes. J sprung up and hauled Edward to his feet by his shirt. She landed a blow on his side and he lashed out, kicking her thigh painfully hard. Her leg buckled and she fell to the ground again.

Edward started kicking her, the side, the stomach, the face. She coughed up blood, but was still conscious. He paused for a second and she sprung up and tackled him back to the ground.

She pinned him to the mat with her knees on his shoulders. With a hard punch to the face he was out like a light. J was oblivious to everything including her unconscious opponent and her shouting instructors, There was too much adrenaline pumping through her to think straight.

She continued to hit him until a strong pair of arms lifted her up, off the unconscious initiate, by her arms. She struggled and fought to get at her opponent, but couldn't. She only stilled when Eric, who was lifting her up, accidentally hit her side. He carried her off the mat and set her roughly on her feet, "Go cool off."

Four and Will carried the unconscious initiate to the infirmary as J calmly strode to the back of the room. She sat against one of the large support columns and whipped her forehead smearing the blood there. From where she sat she could clearly see the sparring mat, but who fought the next match didn't register.

After Zoe's match, which she one without a scratch, she came over and sat next to her friend. Silently she took the wet towel she had in her hand and started to clean the blood from her friends face. Then she took J's hands and started to clean her split knuckles. J just watched her friend, until she was done.

Zoe looked over and saw that the fights were all over by now so she stood and said, "Come on lets go get some dinner, I'm starving!"

J smiled up at her friend, "I'm not hungry, go ahead. I'll see you at the dorms."

Zoe hesitated, but eventually left. J leaned her head back and closed her eyes, her entire body was sore. The initiates had left and Four walked out saying something to Four. After he left, Eric started to write on a small chalk board. When it seemed like he was satisfied with what he had written, he started to write on a larger chalkboard.

Then he went to the side of the room and grabbed his jacket that had been hanging on a nail in the wall. He was putting it on when he caught a glimpse of J still sitting in the back of the room. He walked over to see what she was still doing here and when he got close enough he saw that she was asleep.

Sighing, he kneeled down at her side and shook her shoulder. She didn't wake up so he shook it harder and said in a stern tone, "initiate."

Still no response, 'Jeeze this girl sleeps like a rock' he thought to himself.  
"J!" He shouted in her ear.

Her eyes snapped open and she sat up quickly. Pain flickered across her vision, but quickly vanished, but it didn't go unnoticed by Eric.

"What," she asked, slightly annoyed by the rude awakening.

"Time to go, come on," he said standing up.

"I'll leave later; I wanted to get some more practice in after everyone left."

"Yeah I could tell by you sleeping back here," he said sarcastically, "you can practice tomorrow, right now I need to lock up, so let's go."

"Can't you just do that later, I really need to practice more," she whined.

Eric rolled his eyes, "You don't need to train more, your ranking is fine, just get out of here and get some food."

J looked at him, not quite believing what he said. "Here," he said holding out his hand to help her up, "I'll show you the rankings if it will get you to leave, just keep it to yourself."

She looked at his hand skeptically, but eventually took it and let him pull her to her feet. He led her over to the board he had been writing on earlier and she walked slowly behind him, trying her best to not limp. The spot on her thigh where Edward had kicked her still hurt really bad and probably had a nasty bruise. He stopped and faced the board saying, "See, nothing to worry about."

Her name was in the first slot.

Inside her head there was a party, 'YAHOOOOO! First place! Alright!' But on the outside she just had a slight smirk and she said, "Thanks."

"Alright, you good?" he asked.

She nodded and he continued, "ok good now go get some dinner, maybe even go to the infirmary and get that cut cleaned up."

He walked off towards the door leaving her to trail behind. Once they were both out of the door he closed and locked it. Crossing his arms he asked, "You ok?'

"Yeah, fine" she lied. Her ribs hurt, her leg was killing her, and she had a horrible headache.

He could tell she was lying so he pressed, "are you sure?"

She nodded.

"Well, I gotta say that was an impressive fight, I haven't seen a fight that brutal in training before," he said and she shrugged at his words, "a lot of people wouldn't have been able to fight as long as you did, so I wouldn't be surprised if you weren't ok."

"I can take care of myself," she said harshly, "that fight was nothing."

She rolled her eyes and stormed off, leaving Eric to watch her walk off wondering why she had gotten so angry. He then headed off to his apartment before going to dinner.


	10. Chapter 10

**(A/N: Really no reviews for my last two chapters? You guys are breaking my heart here ;) I'll just have to keep bothering you people with updates until I get some reviews. Hahahah! I had tryouts for volleyball at my school (I'm going into ninth grade) and I'm waiting to see if I got on the team and it is absolutely killing me to wait, so to occupy myself I'm typing up some chapters. If anyone likes Percy Jackson fanfictions I have a story for that now. I hope you enjoy this chapter!)**

Once she got back to the dorm, J took a cold shower in one of the enclosed stalls. After she was done, she made sure the door to the bathroom was locked, then she looked at herself in the mirror. She pulled up the side of her shirt and saw the massive purple and black bruise on the left side of her ribs. She hissed in pain as she touched it. The skin at her hair line was split and she had a bruise on her thigh from where Edward had kicked her.

She dressed in the extra close she had for when she wasn't training which was a cotton tank top and black sweatpants. J walked out of the bathroom and saw that no one was in the dorm. She slid down the wall next to her bed and sat there. 'What was I thinking?' she asked in her head, 'the fight was over, I knew it was, then why did I keep hitting him anyway? It was like I was trying to kill him.'

J sat there for a while, guilt eating at her, until finally she decided to go check on Edward and apologize.

~Line Break~

She now stood in front of the infirmary door after walking around for some time trying to find it. She was mentally fighting with herself on whether or not to go inside, eventually going in.

Walking into the bright white room was surprising considering how dark it was in the compound, it hurt J's eyes. She quietly shut the door behind her and looked for Edward. He was sitting in the edge of one of the beds, facing away from her. J saw the bruises on his sides and bandages on his left shoulder; he was slowly putting on his shirt.

When he was done she walked to the end of the bed and cleared her throat. He looked over at her and asked in a defensive tone, "What do you want?"

J took a breath that hurt her ribs, and said, "I just wanted to apologize for going too far in the fight."

Edward got up and walked over to her, glaring down menacingly, "just watch your back, because I don't plan on forgetting this."

She looked up at him not intimidated, and without saying anything she turned and left. Once outside she took time to think about his words. From what she saw in his eyes he was being very serious, if she wasn't careful he would try to kill her. After debating going to dinner and deciding against it she headed back to the dorms.

Walking with her hands in her pockets looking at the floor she didn't even notice the person walking towards her until he stopped right in front of her. "Earth to J, anyone in there?" the person asked.

Looking up she saw Zeke smiling down at her. "I'm here," she said with a failed attempt to smile.

Zeke noticed this and lightly grabbed the side of her face, using his thumb; he tilted her head up to see it better. "What happened?" he asked seeing the split skin by her hairline.

She leaned out of his grasp and shrugged, "training fights."

He raised an eyebrow, "who were you up against that could do that? What happened?"

"I was up against Edward," she said looking at the ground.

Zeke frowned, "He's the biggest transfer this year and you were put up against him?"

She shrugged and looked up at Zeke with mischief in her eyes, "that might be, but I still beat him. He's in the infirmary now."

He looked at her strangely, "what kind of damage could this skinny girl in front of me do to that tank of a boy, huh Dredd?"

She laughed, "This skinny girl dislocated his shoulder, busted his nose and gave him some bruises that will be hurting for a while."

"I'm glad you're my friend, 'cause you're scary" he said with a grinned. Zeke turned and headed in the direction she originally had been headed. She elbowed him in the side playfully; he smiled and elbowed her back. Unfortunately for her, it was in the side that was bruised. She side stepped away from him, not saying anything.

Zeke noticed and asked, "You ok?"

J shrugged off his question, "I'm fine."

He didn't push it but he felt like something was off. They walked in silence until they reached the dorm. J and Zeke sat next to each other on her bed. It was quiet because no one else was in the room. "Haven't been in here in two years," he said more to himself, then to J he asked, "so tell me about your fight, how was it?"

"Awesome," she said and then gave him a detailed description of her fight, pretty much just her attacks and none of Edwards. As she talked Zeke had laid down so his feet were on the floor and his head was opposite them. After she finished she almost held her breath hoping that Zeke wouldn't recognize how much she had left out of the story.

"So I didn't really catch the part where you explained how you got that gaping hole in your head."

"It's hardly a gaping hole, it's barely a scratch," she protested.

"Either way how did it happen?" he asked.

"Well he picked me up by my hair and started punching my side and my skin just ripped," she mumbled, not looking at him.

He lifted his head off the mattress and looked at her with concern, "how did you leave that out? It's a pretty significant detail, Dredd!"

She shrugged and he continued, "That had to hurt, you should go to the infirmary and make sure you don't need stitches."

"How are your ribs?" he asked as he gently poked her side with his finger.

She leaned away slightly and he stopped, but she still didn't say anything. "You should go to the infirmary and get those looked at," Zeke said.

J shook her head, "they aren't that bad."

Zeke was not convinced by her tough guy (girl) act, "if you won't go to the infirmary, will you at least let me look at it?"

"I don't see what good it will do," she said with a sigh, but she lifted the side of her tank top just high enough so he could see the damage. He saw the angry purple and black bruise that spread over her ribcage. He drew in a breath, eyes darting between her eyes and the injury. She looked at him as he gently took the shirt from her grasp, holding it lightly to her side, careful to avoid touching her bare skin.

He lifted his free hand and looked like he was going to touch the mark when…

"What the heck are you doing to my initiate, Zeke?" came a stern voice from the door way.

Zeke jumped and hit his head in fright in the process dropping her shirt, but J just looked at the source of the sound, not startled at all. Of course, it was Eric. His arms were crossed over his chest, his expression dark.

"I swear this isn't as bad as it seems. Really! I didn't do anything," Zeke babbled.

J laughed with a mischievous look on her face, "Well.., to say you didn't do anything would be a lie. You practically pulled off my shirt."

Eric tensed, not yet realizing that she was joking. Zeke looked at her like she had stabbed her with one of her notorious blades. J looked at Eric's expression and laughed. When she could get in a breath she said, "I was just kidding. Why are you here again Eric? Besides terrify Zeke that is."

He still didn't look happy but he answered, "I was trying to find you since you weren't at dinner."

"Why do you care if I went to dinner or not?" she asked still annoyed from there talk earlier.

"Because it's part of my job to look after initiates, especially transfers. So if something happens to one of you it would be my neck that gets wrung."

She scoffed and stood up, "yeah you seemed pretty worried about the safety of initiates by throwing knives at my head yesterday."

Eric growled, but before he could say anything Zeke shot up and pushed J out of the door before she could get herself into any more trouble. He took her took the cafeteria and made sure she ate dinner, then they went their separate ways.

J arrived at the dorm and entered silently, the lights were out and everyone was asleep, well almost everyone. Sitting on J's bed, still awake, was Zoe. "What are you still doing up?" J whispered.

She got up and said, "Waiting for you, I was getting worried, no one had seen you and you didn't come to diner."

"I went later with Zeke," she replied.

"Zeke," Zoe said, trying to recall a face to fit the name, "the one you walked over to tackle Eric yesterday?"

They both laughed quietly and J replied, "That's the one."

"Get some sleep, you probably need it," Zoe said walking to her bunk on the opposite wall from J's.

"Hey," she whispered after her, Zoe stopped and turned.

"Thanks for waiting up for me," J said softly.

With a smile and a small nod Zoe turned and went back to her own bunk. J followed suit and sleep took her as soon as her head hit the pillow.


	11. Chapter 11

Ch 11

**(A/N: Thank you for the review;** **tye dye tail**** ! Ok I know none of you probably care, but I'm super excited because I made the volleyball team at my school! I'm the only freshman who made it on the team so I am really happy. Now, enjoy the story!)**

Just as the previous day, J woke up before the others and ran into Four in the hall way. Four stopped, "you might want to see this, I'm about to show everyone the rankings."

She shrugged, "I saw it yesterday."

"How?" Four asked.

J smirked and just continued towards the dining hall. Eric was there again, not completely asleep this time, but he looked like he was about to dose off at any minute. He didn't even see J as she walked past him to the food that lined one of the walls. She got two trays filled with food; she walked back to the table and placed one of them in front of Eric. He just looked at it to her like she was from a different planet.

"What?" she asked through a mouthful of bacon.

His brow furrowed and he shook his head, "it's just.., why did you bring me this?"

She shrugged, "just trying to be nice, I guess. You looked half asleep, so I figured some food would wake you up."

"Uhhh.., thanks."

"No problem."

They ate in silence until the other transfers started to come in. Christina sat on J's right and Zoe was across the table from J with Will and Al on either side of her.

"Where were you? Four showed us the rankings this morning," Christina asked.

"I left early, but he showed me as I passed him in the hallway," she lied about the last part.

Four was just sitting down on the other side of Eric, he raised an eyebrow and Eric stiffened slightly.

"Did you show her yesterday?" Four whispered to Eric.

"I had to get her out of the training room so I could lock up for the night," He whispered back.

"We never lock that door," Four stated.

Eric neither looked at Four nor said anything. Four almost laughed, "I get it, you didn't want her to sit in there all night dwelling on the fight, so you made her leave."

"I was hoping that she would go to the infirmary to get her head looked at, but no such luck," he said quietly so only Four could hear.

"She didn't come to dinner, so where did she go?" Four asked.

"She was hanging out with the awesome-est person in the compound!" said a loud voice between Four and Eric's heads.

J didn't notice because she was talking with Christina and Zoe. They turned and saw Zeke grinning stupidly at them. Four put his hand on Zeke's face and playfully pushed it away. Eric, who was still upset over last night for some unknown reason to even himself, let out an annoyed breath.

Four asked, "Who's that?"

"Me of course," Zeke replied with a duh voice.

Eric scoffed, "they weren't just hanging out, he was feeling the girl up."

Without hesitation Four smacked Zeke over the head, "what is wrong with you, stupid? An initiate, seriously?"

"Hey!" Zeke protested, "It wasn't like that, I wouldn't you know that. I-"

"Zeke," J spoke up.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

Everyone except Zeke broke into laughter.

~Page Break~

After messing with Zeke and finishing breakfast, Four led the initiates to the large training room, "today you will be using fire arms," he said as he and Eric passed out hand guns, "They are loaded and the safety is off, so don't be stupid."

Right after Four handed her a gun she clicked on the safety and flipped it into the air as if to spite him. She caught it by the handle with a smug grin, Four rolled his eyes.

Another transfer yawned and asked, "Why do we need to learn to use guns? It was Peter.

Four looked like he was about to do something, but J beat him to it. She pounced on the boy and grabbed a fistful of his shirt pulling him close so their bodies were touching. She clicked off the safety and with an evil smile she hissed, "you are holding a loaded gun, _idiot. _So act like it or I'll save everyone the trouble and shoot you myself."

She clicked back the hammer; Peter dropped his gun and didn't even dare to breath. He wasn't sure how far she was willing to go.

"Initiate lower the gun and back away," Eric said carefully so the girl wouldn't blow the other initiate's brains out. His hand hovered over the gun that sat in the holster at his hip.

J sighed dramatically, but backed up and lowered the gun. Peter sprung away and the danger was gone. The two adults in the room, Eric and Four were grinning; neither of them liked the arrogant initiate. Then again, they couldn't have an initiate pointing a gun at whoever they wanted, "Initiate you just got dropped to second place for that stunt," Eric said hiding the disappointment in his voice.

J whipped around smacking Al, who had been standing by her, with her hair, "What!?" she exclaimed.

"You can't just point a loaded gun at whoever you please, even if they deserve it," he said with a pointed glare at Peter.

"Give me a chance to get my spot back, please!" she said quickly.

Eric looked at Four giving him the decision of what to do because if Eric just did what he wanted she would have her spot back and Peter would be factionless.

Four stood with his arms crossed for a minute, thinking, then he said, "ok, since you were so eager to use that gun, let's see how you are with it. If you hit the target with in the first three tries you can have your spot back and Peter will go back down to second."

"I'll do it, but can you at least show me the stance first?"

"Guess that's only fair," he responded.

He took the gun from her hands and stepped up to face the targets. He spread his feet shoulder width apart and squared his shoulders to the target. He held the gun with both hands. J stepped up next to him and mirrored his movements, holding an imaginary gun. She watched as the gun moved slightly and saw how he aimed. He fired three shots, then handed the gun back to her.

She took it and carefully aimed at the target. She took a deep breath and pulled the trigger. Not expecting the recoil, the gun shot up and almost smacked her in the face. Eric almost laughed; the bullet hit a foot outside the circular target.

Her expression hardened and she aimed again, muscles tense. She took the shot and the distance was half as much, but on the opposite side. The recoil wasn't as bad this time because she was expecting it.

One shot left to get her rank back, she could do it, she had to. She bit her bottom lip and shook out her arms. She raised the gun again taking her time to aim. Her finger was on the trigger and the instant before she fired, Peter spoke in a voice louder than needed, "don't miss."

She had been so tense the noise made her jump; the bullet hit the very edge of the target. J shouted in frustration and went up to the target, it was so close, but she couldn't tell if it hit or not. She looked at Four and he shook his head.

She stalked up to Peter grabbed his shirt with both fists and pushed him back until his back slammed into one of the metal support beams.

"You did that on purpose," she shouted in his face.

He just smirked and said, "I was just giving you some advice."

J's vision was red with rage; she aimed a punch at him, but was cut off by Eric yanking her off the initiate. He grabbed her from behind, one hand around her waist the other covering her mouth. J struggled, trying to get at Peter. Somehow she got out of his stone grip and attacked the nearest person, which unfortunately was Eric. She still thought she was fighting someone Peter's height and she punched him full force in the neck.

As a reflex, his fist came down on her left cheek bone. It was strong enough to knock her to the ground. Her vision cleared and looked up at Eric, who looked extremely angry, with a mask of no emotion.

She got up quickly, "I'm sorry, sir, I didn't mean to hit you."

He scoffed and looked at Peter and J, "both of you, by the end of the day Four and I will decide who did better and one of you will be put in first place the other in third. Now everyone get to work."

Everyone stood in front of the paper target, J finally hit the target, very close to the center. Most of everyone else missed horrifically. J was still startled by what had just happened, but she did her best to block out everything and only focus on the target and the gun.

Eric walked behind her just as she pulled the trigger again. J hit the dead center of the bullseye; Eric grunted in approval and then continued walking down the line. She almost smiled, almost.

They continued practicing until lunch. She sat in her normal spot across from Zoe, Christina on her right and Eric on her left. Zeke came over and sat between Eric and J. Does this guy even have a job? The muscles in J's hands were so sore from being worked hard she couldn't get them to stop shaking.

Zeke noticed and asked, "you alright, Dredd?"

"I'm fine," she said casually.

"But your hands are shaking."

"Oh, we were using guns today," she explained.

"Anything else fun happen? How did you do with your aim?"

"My aim was ok, but I'm worried. I attacked one of the other initiates and now I'm sort of in a competition with him to get my spot in first place back. Also I punched Eric," She mumbled the last sentence.

"What was that last part," Zeke asked leaning closer to J.

Zoe who had been watching laughed slightly, "She said, that she punched Eric, she didn't do it on purpose, she thought he was Peter.

Zeke's mouth dropped open and he howled with laughter. J looked down at the table and Eric clenched his jaw in annoyance. He was really bothering Eric so the tattooed man swung around and punched Zeke in the face. He fell back, K.O.

J started snickering but asked, "Is he going to be ok?"

Four cut in, "he's fine. Its Zeke were talking about here, once he wakes up he will be as bouncy as ever. He's been through worse."

J nodded and Four continued, "I'll take him back to his room and come to the training room later."

With that he picked up his fiend and slung him over his shoulder, leaving the dining hall. Eric got up and shouted to the initiates that lunch was over.

**(A/N: Do you think J will get her rank back? It was fun to write Eric confused at the beginning by someone being nice to him. J+ guns+ annoying Peter= not good. Haha, I don't know if you guys liked this chapter but I sure did. Tell me what you think!**

**-DarkFlameJ)**


	12. Chapter 12

Back in the training room, Eric announced the pairings for the day's fights. The first was Zoe against Myra. Then Will and Al, followed by Christina and Molly. After that there were more groups to go but J had stopped paying attention until it was her turn. The outcome of this fight would determine which initiate came out on top, she was against Peter.

They both stepped barefoot onto the mat. As soon as the "go" left Four's mouth they sprung at each other. Peter punched at her face and J ducked under it. She aimed a jab at his neck but he caught her wrist. J tried again with her other hand, but he just caught that one too.

She was stuck, unable to move her arms. She snapped her head forward and her forehead hit his nose with a snap. He stumbled backwards and grabbed his nose, letting go of her hands. J stepped forward and hit him in the stomach causing him to cough. She went to hit him in the face but he had already moved. He had spun around behind her and before she could move he kicked her in the back which sent her sprawling onto the floor. She landed on her stomach with an "oof", but she rolled over quickly and swept her feet under Peters. He fell to the floor right next to her. J sprung to her feet and waited for him to stand. She stood there as he righted himself, as soon as he was standing she jumped and spun, kicking him in the side of the head.

She landed on her feet and Peter fell to the floor, uncontious. "Alright, J is the winner," Four announced once Peter didn't get up.

~Line Break~

"Rankings are on the board. Get dinner and be at the train tracks by twenty one hundred hours," Eric said before walking out.

They all looked at the rankings:

1)J

2)Peter

3)Will

5)Zoe

6)Edward

7)Blake

8)Molly

9)Christina

10)Drew

11)Al

12)Myra


End file.
